V.I.A. is co-sponsoring the amazing Vancouver Sometimes Plays Itself film series that's screening at the Waldorf Hotel! It's the first comprehensive showing of some of the earliest, most ambitious and strangest films shot in Vancouver and it happens every Monday at 7 PM for the next few weeks. The series is presented by local arts researcher Elvy Del Bianco, who has spent the last year and a half identifying and acquiring Vancouver-set films, and will feature notable guest speakers. Michael Turner’s On Location 1 (Elvy Del Bianco’s Annotated Film Collection) will screen weekly before each film, and we're priming it here on the blog by offering Elvy's thoughts on that week's title.
This week's film is Russian Roulette, and here's the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q8JaDwtVsY
And here's the synopsis and some thoughts from Elvy:
Russian Roulette
1975
RCMP Cpl. Timothy Shaver, fresh from punching his commanding officer, muscles his way through CIA and KGB intrigue and obfuscation to stop the assassination of Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin during a state visit to Vancouver.
Of the many Anglo-Canadian co-productions in the mid-‘70s, Russian Roulette was amongst the most watchable. Although softer-boiled and lighter on the budget than contemporary American political thrillers like Three Days of the Condor and Marathon Man, it had a major star in George Segal and a significant talent in long-time editor-turned-director Lou Lombardo.
Atypically, it also had a full diplomatic corps of eccentric characters, including Denholm Elliot’s disheveled beer weasel, Val Avery’s street hockey disrupting Russian émigré, Segal’s capable but flawed Mountie, and many others.
Russian Roulette marks a departure for Vancouver on screen, mirroring the city’s baby steps away from its vague, generic backwater image. More than any other film in this series, Vancouver plays Vancouver in Russian Roulette, although in an obvious, travelogue manner that highlights our now all-too-familiar branded geography: it opens with a sunrise shot of the Lion’s Gate Bridge, includes a ride on the Grouse Mt. tram, and concludes with a shoot-out on the roof of the Hotel Vancouver.
Unavailable on DVD
Russian Roulette will be introduced by Fraser Nixon, author of The Man Who Killed, published by Douglas & MacIntyre.
Vancouver Sometimes Plays Itself series screens every Monday, Admission is by Donation
7pm—Doors
7:30pm—Introductory Presentation by Special Guest Speaker
7:50pm—Screening
